Lady Leslie Ridley-Tree is the honorary chair for the fundraising event honoring Maria Shriver, who will receive a caregiver award.

Maria C. Carrillo, Ph.D, will also share a Keynote address about advances in Alzheimer’s research, and Lisa Genova, New York Times best-selling author of Still Alice, will speak as well.

More than five million Americans have Alzheimer’s disease, two thirds of whom are women. In her early sixties, a woman is about twice as likely to develop Alzheimer’s over the course of her lifetime than she is likely to develop breast cancer.

“Women are at epicenter of this crisis, which is why we must be at the heart of the solution,” said Shriver, founder of the Wipe Out Alzheimer’s Challenge. “We want to better understand Alzheimer’s disease and then prevent it, treat it and beat it.”

The volunteer-led Alzheimer’s Women’s Initiative of the Alzheimer’s Association California Central Chapter is driven by influential women who bring community leaders together to support the Alzheimer’s Association’s mission to eliminate this devastating disease, to provide and enhance care and support for those affected and to reduce the risk of dementia through the promotion of brain health.

Caregiver Award nominations were submitted in late September, and the Alzheimer’s Women’s Initiative Committee selected the following three Santa Barbara County residents for their outstanding caregiver efforts: Spouse Caregiver awardee, Paul Crawford of Santa Barbara; Family Member Caregiver awardee, Anthony Garcia of Carpinteria and Healthcare Employee awardee, Evelyn Senn of Goleta.

“In Santa Barbara, Ventura, San Luis Obispo and Kern counties, more than 40,000 people are serving as caregivers every day,” said Rhonda Spiegel, CEO of the Alzheimer’s Association California Central Chapter. “These caregivers give 450,000 hours of unpaid care each year to family members, friends and colleagues. The Alzheimer’s Association is proud to support and recognize these unsung heroes who often sacrifice their own needs to provide care for the people they love.”

“We are thrilled to have Maria Shriver and look forward to honoring her at the Luncheon” says Spiegel. “Women are disproportionately affected by Alzheimer’s. While longevity and lower death rates explain this in part, there is an urgent need to understand how differences in brain structure, disease progression and hormonal and molecular characteristics may contribute to higher incidence and rates of cognitive decline. A portion of funds raised at the Second Annual Your Brain Matters Luncheon will all go towards the Alzheimer’s Association’s Women’s Alzheimer’s Research Initiative.”

To purchase seats for the luncheon and for more information about the event, visit act.alz.org/awisb or contact Rachael Randall at 805.892.4259 x103 or email [email protected].

To learn more about sponsorship opportunities, contact Mitchel Sloan at 805.892.4259 x102 or email [email protected].

Alzheimer’s Disease and Women

Alzheimer’s is a global epidemic. Worldwide, an estimated 44 million people are living with Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia.

Alzheimer’s disease is the 6th leading cause of death in the United States and is the only cause of death among the top 10 in America that cannot be cured or prevented. A woman’s estimated lifetime risk of developing Alzheimer’s at age 65 is 1 in 6.

Not only are women more likely to have Alzheimer’s, they are also more likely to be caregivers of those with Alzheimer’s. More than 3 in 5 unpaid Alzheimer’s caregivers are women.

Women are also 2.5 times more likely to provide 24-hour care for someone with Alzheimer’s. Women are likely to experience adverse consequences in the workplace because of caregiving duties.

Nearly 19 percent of women Alzheimer’s caregivers had to quit work either to become a caregiver or because their caregiving duties became too burdensome.

About the Alzheimer’s Association

The Alzheimer’s Association is the world’s leading voluntary health organization in Alzheimer’s care, support and research. It is the largest nonprofit funder of Alzheimer’s research.

The Association’s mission is to eliminate Alzheimer’s disease through the advancement of research, to provide and enhance care and support for all affected and to reduce the risk of dementia through the promotion of brain health. Its vision is a world without Alzheimer’s.

The Alzheimer’s Association California Central Chapter is headquartered in Santa Barbara, with regional offices located in Kern, San Luis Obispo and Ventura Counties.

About Maria Shriver

Maria Shriver is a mother of four, a Peabody and Emmy Award-winning journalist and producer, a six-time New York Times best-selling author and an NBC News special anchor covering the shifting roles, emerging power and evolving needs of women in modern life.

She is the founder of A Woman’s Nation, which has produced a series of award-winning Shriver Reports that chronicle and explore seismic shifts in American culture and society affecting women today including The Shriver Report: A Woman’s Nation Takes on Alzheimer’s.

Shriver has been a leading Alzheimer’s advocate for over a decade, testifying in front of Congress, executive producing the HBO Alzheimer’s Project and the Emmy-nominated Paycheck to Paycheck and authoring the bestselling children’s book What’s Happening to Grandpa?.

She is an executive producer of The Mask You Live In and the Academy Award-winning film Still Alice, which tells the tale of a woman affected by early onset Alzheimer’s disease.

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